YAHALLO AND WELCOME TO PART 2 OF
THE UNBIASED POWER RANKINGS
In this edition, we will be ranking 5 more teams. Let's get to it.
Latin America
Latina America returns after a very surprising run last year. I find it really hard to believe that this rag-tag group of unproven players can possibly repeat such a fluky performance, but we will have to wait and see I suppose. Vai Lusa, who was coming off of a solid SPL campaign, apparently abandoned the team, leaving a hole that will be hard for the squad to replace. The team also finds itself without its spiritual leader: Posho. Posho was the face of Latin America; I'm sure he's one of the only LA players the general public could name at the drop of a hat. His play has obviously left a lot to be desired as of late, and the removal of his signature tier, BW OU, certainly would have hurt his chances of returning to form in this tour. Either way, for whatever reason, he has decided not to participate, leaving his goon squad to carry on his legacy. Can they do it? I'm pretty skeptical, honestly.
The lineup definitely lacks in the star power department. The team basically has two notable players: Gondra and xImRaptor. The Gondra bandwagon was carried out to sea, attached to an anchor, and thrown overboard after his horrendous Snake III performance. The Jerk fell out of favor with him, allowing the Ruiners to pick up the once-promising player for pennies on the dollar. He returned Rewer's investment in a big way, going 9-2 while taking down some pretty notable players along the way. It remains to be seen whether his SM OU expertise can carry over to SS OU, but he's probably a good enough player with enough of a track record to where I feel confident in his ability to go positive in this tour. xImRaptor, meanwhile, is sort of a super-rookie, who leapt onto the tour scene in a big way with back-to-back solid performances in Snake and SPL. He has come a long way since being part of the cursed Lindworms' trio of draft blunders. I haven't totally consumed the kool-aid yet, nor do I know how much of his skill will translate over to SS OU, but I think he has a pretty good shot of going 2-1.
Gondra and Raptor are going to have to do some major carrying, because the rest of the team is a bit of a joke. The player with the greatest amount of promise here seems to be ZDen, who has managed to accrue a nice 6-2 sheet record so far. I'm still pretty skeptical of his abilities due to the small sample size here, but he has shown some flashes of ability. Raichy is a journeyman played who has amassed 23 games on the sheet, albeit with a negative record. I don't have too much faith in his SS OU abilities, but maybe he can get a win. Leo has a decent amount of experience on the big stage, but hasn't really done anything noteworthy enough to make me a believer. Maybe he can get a win too; who knows? The other slots on the team are even more sketchy. beatiful is a ladder hero who has been laddering with some nonsense offense team for eons now; I don't really give much weight to one's ladder abilities, so it wouldn't be surprising to see him get smashed. Flamita is apparently 2-2 on the sheet, even though I honestly have never even heard of them before. I think he's an oh95 jaja goon? LOL idr. Either way, I don't really have any expectations for him. Probably the sketchiest slot on the lineup, though is Feliburn, an RU mainer who has notoriously struggled on the big stage. I find it very hard to believe that a struggling RU player can successfully transition to SS OU; it would not be shocking to see him go winless. The subs are irrelevant, so let's ignore them.
Overall, this is clearly a very top heavy team. It would be pretty surprising to see them make the playoffs; I feel like they almost certainly used up all their magic last year.
US Northeast
Well, the Jerk is back for yet another tour. East fell short last year for the first time since 2014, as they were toppled by lax and the rest of the West brigade. The team was hurt a bit, in my opinion, with the transition to 8 SS OU slots; not only are there 2 less slots now, which hurts a team as deep as East, but one of the team's three main carries, the GOAT aka BKC, was severely nerfed. All that being said, it's pretty clear that this team is still the clear favorite to take home the trophy, with a roster laden with superstar talent and a nice bunch of complementary players.
The headline players here are obviously ABR and bro fist. ABR's looking like the best player on Smogon at the moment; he's currently in the Smogon Tour finals, and is also in the Smogon Classic playoffs. He's obviously always a threat to go 6-0 in World Cup, and it would be very surprising to see him finish the tour with anything more than 2 losses. Speaking of going 6-0, bro fist is the master of this tournament. He's arguably the best World Cup player ever, and demolishes the tournament year after year. He had a rare "poor" showing last year, losing both of his playoff games to a white hot lax, but I find it hard to believe that he will suffer the same fate again this year. As someone who has teamed with him before, I can confidently tell you that I have never had more faith in someone's ability to win a close game than I had in John during his East tenure. Expect more of the same here.
Unlike other teams on this list, East obviously does not fall off too hard after their top-end talent. A bit below the team's two superstar carries is their Jerk partner, starmaster. He's mainly known for being that one dude who was banned for 200 years for ghosting a 10-year old before being unbanned early due to his Jerk connections. He was massively hyped by all of his friends during his ban, and finally showed off some his potential with an amazing 7-2 run last SPL. With the incredible team support provided by ABR, I wholly expect Star to go 5-1 or so. Next up, we have Insult, whose really evolved quite a bit since his debut a few tours ago. He has yet to be negative in a team tour, and has a pretty solid 14-7 record over the past 2 tournaments. He was a monster for the Classiest last SPL, and had the mental fortitude to not forfeit after a rough series of events in what was basically a lost game against Vai Lusa in Week 9; Lusa ended up choking on balls, as Insult helped the Classiest claim a playoff spot. He also made it to the semifinals of the latest OST, before falling to noted sheet God FlamingVictini. I've honestly come around quite a bit on him, and with the infrastructure surround him, he really might make a push for 5 wins this tour.
Finchinator finds himself in SS OU after his home of BW OU was a victim of the tournament's format change. We all know Finchinator is a tryhard, and we all know he's a pretty solid player. He's had some rather laughable moments lately (the infamous Omastar game comes to mind), but it would be foolish to expect him to struggle here. He obviously puts in a lot of work, and I'm sure he's played an incredibly large amount of SS OU games. I expect him to finish with around 4 wins. teal6 has been pretty impressive on the big stage lately, amassing a nice 13-7 record over his last 3 tours. He himself admits that he has been in pretty poor form lately, but I wholeheartedly expect him to get back into shape before his first World Cup Game. He does play a bit balls-to-the-wall at times, which can hurt his consistency, but I trust in his ability to go positive.
marcop is a bit more of a question mark. He seemingly came out of NOWHERE and somehow went from being Finch lackey to top ADV player overnight. It was a very interesting transition. I don't really know how good he will be at SS OU, though. He did manage to do pretty well in the last OST, but his run was a bit...suspect at best (st tyrannus / polish vodka / bruno de lucas / tectonic destroyer / haru / conflict). He does have amazing team support, so I think he will probably do decently. We will see, though. The last slot on the team is a real question mark, though. The team decided to put their faith in robjr for now, who I really have no faith in outside of lower tiers. He's really struggled to put together solid campaigns when he's not in the confines of UU, as evidenced by his putrid 1-6 performance last SPL. I don't really think he'll succeed. The team has some interesting options like Joey, Sabella, and the GOAT on the bench. The team doesn't trust Joey to start, which is a pretty big red flag to me. He definitely isn't as good as he was a few years ago, but I still think he's better than robjr. We also have Sabella, who, contrary to popular belief, is actually positive on the sheet. He's not a world-beater or anything, but maybe he could get some wins if he had to spell robjr. The GOAT is obviously in his own category here, but he did get smashed in Snake, and I'm not sure how much motivation he has to grind SS OU anyway. The team could have fixed all of these issues by taking Updated Kanto, but they decided that his persona did not fit their Jerk atmosphere. For any other team, this would be an insane decision, but East can afford to make these types of maneuvers.
Overall, this is pretty clearly still the best team. Their tiebreak is still out of this world with ABR, bro fist, and Star, and they have enough solid pieces to help them easily smash most teams.
US West
The US East rivals are back. The team managed to topple East last year and take home the trophy, thanks in no small part to a superhuman performance from former NU mainer lax. Is he up for an encore?
The aforementioned lax is easily the headliner here. He absolutely tore through Smogon last year, with incredible performances in both SPL and World Cup. He's shown that he can beat pretty much anyone at any time, even managing to take down the tiebreak god himself bro fist. I think he'll easily smash everyone this tour as well. West also managed to revive ben gay, one of Smogon's greatest innovators. His play is certainly not always on par with his builds, but he usually always manages to find the techs he needs to bring home the win. While I still wouldn't trust him too much in a super high-pressure situation, he's obviously still a player to be a feared, especially in what will be a relatively new metagame when the tour begins. I'm sure his crazy innovations will catch his opponents off guard and help him put up a solid record.
The next most important players on the team are z0mOG and blarghlfarghl. z0m's sheet game has yet to live up to the expectations created with his Stour trophy, but he is almost past the .500 mark following a (relatively lucky) 7-3 SPL performance. I think that he'll definitely go positive. blargh is someone who I've basically done a complete 180 on lately. I used to bold against him with fervor; now, I bold him quite frequently. It's actually pretty impressive how he's managed to turn the narrative around. He has a knack for getting wins; he's 14-7 in his past 3 tours, despite some pretty unimpressive losses along the way. He just wins; there's honestly not much more I can say here. He should definitely do well.
Speaking of turning around the narrative, Sjneider has been a beast lately He's managed to go 14-6 in his past two tours; he did pretty well in ORAS last SPL, albeit with ABR's support, and things are looking up for him. I bold against him a lot and he always seems to screw me over. That being said, I'm not buying too much of his stock just yet. If he does well in this tour too, I think I'll drink some more of the kool-aid. That being said, he does clearly have some talent, and I think he'll probably do decently. Another player whose kool-aid I have yet to consume is ima. After an impressive 8-3 performance, which is referenced about 485934085094904389 times on the STours server, ima fell back to earth with a rather pedestrian 3-4 performance in SPL XI. I'm not too big of a believer, but he does clearly have at least some talent. I think he'll do decently, but it wouldn't overly shock me to see him finish below .500 again.
The last two slots on the team are a bit more questionable. rozes obviously hasn't done anything of note in SS OU, nor has he really done anything notable in OU tiers as a whole. He does have a great deal of experience on the big stage, so at least he has that going for him. He's also in Classic Playoffs, so the former NU mainer may have leveled up his game a bit. It wouldn't surprise me to see him struggle a fair bit, though. The last player in the lineup is Valentine, who may or may not be getting ghosted? All I can say is, when he plays, he usually manages to put up a decent amount of wins. I honestly think he'll do fine. The team also has Vaboh on the bench, a player who was massively hyped following his amazing Corona PL I run. Unfortunately, he went 1-14 LOOOL what the fuck is that right? LMAO 1-14 HUHFKDSHGJHDSJ combined in his next 3 Corona PL showings. Jesus christ. Alright, he might just be unviable after all. I regret mentioning him.
Overall, this is a pretty solid team. Do I think they can win the trophy again? If lax goes superhuman, I suppose it's possible. I think they'll definitely make the playoffs, though, and for whatever reason, West is always a very feisty team when it comes down to it. They have the aura.
Brazil
After a VERY IMPRESSIVE Corona PL showing, the BRS are back, hoping to lift an important trophy this time. The team's last win came in 2014, when they upset one of the best on-paper teams of all time. Does this squad have the talent to take home the ring? Honestly, they just might.
The best player on the team is Eternal Spirit. Gama has been a sheet warrior for a while now, and rarely has a bad tour. He did have an off SPL, but he only finished 1 win below .500; that's the first time he's gone negative in 3 years. I think Gama's mega fire, and I think that this tour he may just pop off with some insane record. I'll trust him to do well for sure. Tamahome is next up, and he really needs no introduction. He has the most wins in the history of team tours while maintaining a very solid +30 differential. The question mark here is obviously his ability to transition his talents over to SS OU. He definitely has enough skill to do so; he managed to perform pretty decently in SM OU back when he had to move to that tier. I'm really not sure how much he's played it, but it would be foolish to count him out here. I'll temper my expectations a bit, but I still expect him to do well.
The BRs somehow managed to revive Nintendi LOL jesus. Nintendi was easily one of the best ORAS players on Smogon during his peak; I always had a solid amount of faith in him. He went 6-0 in ORAS last World Cup, and honestly, I have a fair amount of confidence that he can do well in this tour. I don't think he will be as good as he is in ORAS OU, but I still expect him to go positive. The squad also features the OST runner-up: the fake jamvad. His run was a bit...questionable, so that's a bit less of an endorsement for his skills than it would be otherwise. That being said, he's still clearly pretty knowledgeable about the tier, and popped off in Corona PL too, for whatever that's worth. Just based on his OST run you have to take him seriously; that being said, he really hasn't done much on the sheet besides get that omega donation from the basedlord last SPL LOL I'm going to temper my expectations a bit, but I think he should do fine. The team also has Smogon Tour Champion Luigi, who I have been hyping for a while. He's always underrated for whatever reason; I think he'll go positive as well.
The team is rounded out by ggggd, Century Express, and Ash KetchumGamer. Pablo went undefeated last SPL, albeit in LC; he clearly has a lot of talent, though. From what I've seen, he's able to adapt to different metagames pretty quickly, so I think he has a fair shot of doing fine in this tournament. I've never really been a big Century Express fan, but he is decent at GSC. Can that translate to SS OU? I'm really not sure, but I guess this metagame is as similar to GSC as we're going to see so I guess there's that lol. Maybe he can grab a few wins; it's better than to start him than a complete random, though. Speaking of randoms...I'm not even going to pretend like I know who Ash KetchumGamer is. Apparently, he did well in OUPL, but so did a bunch of awful players....so, take that as you will. More importantly, he also made STour playoffs, so at least he has some capability I suppose. I still don't have that much faith in his ability to succeed. The team does have elodin on the bench, who is at least talented enough to maybe grab a win or two if needed I suppose.
Overall, this is pretty clearly a playoff team. They have some players with upside, and if those players hit their ceilings, perhaps they can make quite a bit of noise in the playoffs.
US Midwest
The worst US team is back yet again. Expectations are always low for midwest, and people meme the team at every turn. Can they exceed expectations? Honestly, the roster could definitely be worse than it is right now.
The main carry of this team is pretty clearly dice. You all know I'm a massive dice fan. He's obviously not in his home tier of BW OU, which definitely lowers his floor a bit. That being said, I'm still a big believer in his talent. I don't know if, in SS OU, he's the player who should be expected to carry your team, but that's what he's going to have to here. I think he'll definitely go positive, and his ceiling is definitely very high.
The rest of the team isn't too awe-inspiring, but they do have some decent pieces I suppose. UltraBallz hasn't been too great in tours so far, and is currently 4 games below .500 on the sheet. Maybe he can make some noise, but it wouldn't be too surprising if he struggled. Tace is someone who took the tour stage by storm with a solid 10-4 run in his first two tours; he fell back to earth with a 2-5 performance last SPL, though. Has the magic run out? I haven't been too impressed by him. His season could really go either way. John W seemed pretty inconsistent from what I saw in SPL; sometimes, he just makes horrible plays. I don't have too much faith in him, but maybe he can grab a win or 2. Luthier, meanwhile, has been relatively impressive in his short time on Smogon. Can he transition his LC skills to OU, though? I'm always a bit skeptical of mainers and their ability to transition to OU tiers, so I'll temper my expectations a bit. His season could also go either way, really. Nails is definitely the most interesting name of the bunch. He's been an absolute force in unofficial tours lately, and has seemingly won at every turn. He's even done pretty well on the sheet lately, and also had a nice run in RBY cup. That being said, do I have a lot of faith in his SS OU abilities? I have absolutely no idea how much SS OU he's played, and I haven't seen enough of his skills outside of RBY to have too much confidence in him in this spot. He's clearly a very talented RBYer, but when was the last time you saw a good RBY player transition to the main OU tier? If anyone can do it, I guess it's Nails. We will see.
Everyone is on this 100percent guy's nuts LOL I don't really know why. I don't have too much faith in him, for obvious reasons. I really have no idea who the hell that even is. I don't know who cleann is either, but he did make top 8 of OST, so I assume he has at least some talent. I'll need to see a lot more before I can say that I'm a believer, though. Maybe he can get a win or two, I guess. The team has Mannat on the bench, who I'm sure will tryhard as per usual. He hasn't done much on the sheet, though, so it's not like he's going to salvage a poor slot. meeps is someone who can generally pick up wins in lower tiers, but I don't have much faith in his OU abilities. The last relevant bench player is Loki, who's literally an OMEGA BOOMER LOL this guy's before my time, dude jesus christ.
Overall, this team's painfully mediocre. Their best player is dice, whose nerfed by the lack of BW OU in the tournament. They have a bunch of players who have the ability to be competent, I guess...so there's that. The X factor here is Nails; maybe he can continue his ridiculous streak in SS OU and help carry the team. I don't think they'll make the playoffs.
I'm going to wait to do the tier rankings. It's hard to properly tier all of the teams until I see all of the rosters. I'll just number them for now.
Rankings
1. US Northeast
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2. US West
3. Brazil
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There's a pretty clear divide here.
4. US Midwest
5. Latin America
6. UK
7. Greece
8. China
9. India